The 2024 Strongest Man On Earth took place on August 17-18 in Loveland, Colorado, and it definitely produced many talking points. Mainly, some of the events were surrounded by a bit of controversy. However, Brian Shaw has now revealed how the situation looked from his standpoint. Moreover, he revealed one of the highest prize purses in the history of Strongman competitions.
2024 Strongest Man On Earth Prize Purse
The total prize purse for the 2024 Strongest Man On Earth came out to $263,200, which is larger than any other competitions have offered this year. As things stand, this is also bigger than the prize purse for the upcoming 2024 Rogue Invitational, but that could change by the time the Invitational starts, as they tend to increase their money.
Moreover, Brian Shaw also gave out $24,000 in total to the podium finishers in the Shaw Classic, which featured four weight classes.
- Mitchell Hooper — $100,016
- Hafthor Bjornsson — $44,744
- Lucas Hatton — $28,952
- Trey Mitchell — $15,002.40
- Austin Andrade — $12,896.80
- Evan Singleton — $10,528
- Tom Stoltman — $9,475.20
- Bobby Thompson — $8,422.40
- Wesley Derwinsky — $7,632.80
- Thomas Evans — $6,580
- Maxime Boudreault — $5,527.20
- Mathew Ragg — $4,474.40
- Tristain Hoath — $3,421.60
- Aivars Šmaukstelis — $2,368.80
- Pavlo Kordiyaka — $1,842.40
- Oleksii Novikov — $1,052.80
“I’m very happy with that. The output is tremendous… The event is special, the crowd is special, the athletes performing and getting to that stage is special.
I hope that there is a lot of meaning that comes out of that for them. I will say that I let the guys know the prize money and not a lot of them got back to me thanking me for it or anything.
After all the work, it is tough. Things have changed a lot from 2020 and how thankful and grateful the athletes were. It is a tough thing for me and Keri when we try to go above and beyond for this event.”
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Brian Shaw Addressing the Controversial Events
Brian Shaw recapped all of the events from the 2024 Strongest Man On Earth. However, he paid the most attention to the events that were considered controversial, including the Overhead Medley, Squat, and judging.
Overhead Medley
The Overhead Medley was controversial because of the misplacement of the implements. So, the crew accidentally placed the heavier Axle before the lighter one. Moreover, the mistake was noticed after four athletes finished performing in the event. However, although there was no perfect outcome, the athletes, along with Brian, decided to restart the event completely with implements in the correct order.
“This is probably my biggest disappointment of the contest. The implements got out on the floor, they looked beautiful; we had two custom Axles and in the back, they were marked as far as what they weighed… As I watched the first four competitors go, I started to question the weight of the implements. So, something was like, ‘Hey, something is not right’.
My fears were confirmed when we weighed the axles, and the heavier of the two axles was put first and the lighter one was in fourth position… The decision was to correct the order of the implements and give those four athletes the opportunity to go again after everybody else had gone.
There is no perfect solution for something like this. I take full responsibility for this. I had the implements made. Maybe they should have been marked clearer; then that would have eliminated the confusion… I felt disappointed in myself for allowing that to happen.”
Squat
Regarding the squat, many fans realized that Mitchell Hooper’s reps looked much shallower than those of other athletes. However, Brian explained that the squats were not held to a powerlifting standard. Instead, each athlete had to hit the bottom of the machine and then squat back up. Hooper used that to lean a bit more forward, which meant that his hips did not go as deep.
“This one probably brought on the most controversy… In the pre-event testing, we got the angle of the athletes’ knees, their foot position documented and pictured, and the bar position on their back as well.
What people need to understand about the squat is that this is a Strongman squat. So, all of the guys were measured equally. Your only position as an athlete is to go from top position to bottom position, touch the bottom, and then get back up. So, there is no judging of hip position, knee angle, how parallel your thigh is, or any of that stuff.
So, when some of the competitors got under the load, they decided to rely on where they were the strongest. So, some of the guys leaned over more and came down in kind of a hybrid good morning with the machine. So, their hips ended up staying high, but the weight was still coming down and touching the bottom.
The truth is that everybody just got under the weight and lifted it. Basically, it was just coming down and touching the bottom… It even happened to me when I did similar events. As I fatigued, I leaned over a touch more, came down, touched at the bottom, and came back up.”
Deadlift & Circus Dumbbell Medley
The controversy regarding the Deadlift and the Circus Dumbbell Medley was based purely on the judging. However, as per Brian, the athletes were given detailed instructions on what would or would not be accepted. He also demanded the judges hold a high standard and not allow anything that deviated from the specific rules.
“Going into the contest, all of the men were very well informed of the rules. We had a very detailed rules meeting where I demonstrated all of these lifts to them. We were going through what was acceptable and what was not acceptable.
Speaking about the deadlift specifically, I was deadlifting a bar with straps. We talked about where the hand needed to be, how the thumb needed to be wrapped around the bar, how the strap needed to be locked onto the bar, and how they were not allowed to let the strap slip… So all of the competitors very much knew the score going into the deadlift.
The standard needs to be held, and at the top level Strongman I think that the standard has just not been held… People can complain about it, but on the other hand, if you allow relaxed judging, people will complain as well. I would much rather have a strict level of judging, with everybody held to the same standard.
I would rather have a question about whether a down call was potentially too harsh than if the down call was terrible… I stand 100% behind my referees; they did a great job.”
Watch the full video here:
Related: Mitchell Hooper Addresses Controversy Following His Win at 2024 Strongest Man On Earth
Mitchell Hooper was crowned the 2024 Strongest Man On Earth, meaning that he has secured all of the biggest titles that the sport has to offer. Moreover, the competition proved that Hooper and Hafthor Bjornsson are the two standout athletes in professional Strongman, ensuring future matches will be epic as well.
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